galnetfandomcom-20200216-history
Ki.odt
The Visit by Vanessa Ravencroft, Cedars Sinai West Hollywood © 2014 (Note: a short story inspired by a question of Knight Rider. This story is cannon and will be part of the Story Collection : Tales of the Union) -1- There was confident professional atmosphere of excitement in the mission control center. Lord commander of the Skedrik Sky forces watched the many rows of technicians, engineers, system specialist and mission control officer behind their high tech desks pressing buttons, talking into head phones and checking data and system status on monitors. Behind the Lord Commander a small crowd of Info providers with cameras and commentators speaking into microphones, telling the billions of Skedriks glued to their tele viewers at home. He then paid attention once again on the huge view screen in front of him and focused on what it displayed. There bathed by the glaring light of countless flood lights stood the proudest technical achievement of the Skedrik civilization. The first space warship, the Plobir na Tanga! It meant avenger of Plobir in the old language. The powerful 600 engos tall tapered giant was the culmination of sixty periods of research and development and would be the tool to repay the Cavaro for their attack on Plobir. Lift off was scheduled for one hour after midnight. Exactly at the same time as the 100th anniversary of the Cavaro attack on the Plobir; or in one hour and ten minutes. The Lord Commander could hear one of the Info providers reminding his audience of the significance of that date, not that he really needed to do this as every Skedrik knew about it and every detail was taught in school. He could not help to pay attention to it anyway. The commentator said.”Almost five hundred long periods ago we made radio contact with another sentient species in the closest star system to ours, the Cavaro. Everything changed from that day on. We finally had proof we were not alone in the universe For centuries we were in radio contact with them, but since it takes radio waves and light over three long periods to reach them, Radio contact was the only way to interact with what we believed were a kindred civilization and friends to us. We freely shared everything with them and for a long period we believed they did the same. It was exactly hundred long periods ago when our scientists discovered a method to travel faster than light. This discovery was immediately shared with what we believed were our friends. We also begun to built our first Faster than light spaceship to mount an expedition and visit the Cavaro for the first time. Sixty four periods ago the historic Cavaro expedition was launched to make the long journey. We never heard from this expedition again. While our radio question to the Cavaro was still underway, a Cavaro space ship arrived here and requested landing permission to greet us all, but instead of landing and greeting us they detonated their ship right above our once so beautiful capitol city Plobir. Killing 13 million including our beloved King Askried and his entire family.” He paused as everyone did when reaching this part of the events to remember the terrible crime. The Cavaro liars even accused us destroying their ship and claimed no expedition of ours ever reached them. We had no other recourse as to declare war on them and cease all communication.” The commentator directed the attention of his audience to the war ship shown on all tele viewers.”This is our answer. We will repay the Cavaro in kind and bomb their cities to ashes. Aveng..” The Lord Commander was interrupted listening to the commentator as an Officer with fear in his face and utmost urgency in his voice reported. “Our radio wave scanners on Wurac base reported the detection of a fast moving object appearing past at the seventh orbit..” The Lord Commander paled.”The Cavaro!” He raised planet wide alert. Security cleared the civilians out of the command center. The population trained for this, begun to evacuate towns and cities and retreated into the underground shelters that had been built everywhere. Missile batteries were activated and pointed skywards. King Oskread and the entire cabinet rushed to the War bunker deep under the Kolrika Mountains protected by miles of solid rock and the King ordered to launch the warship right away. Not that it would do any good. The ship would need weeks to accelerate to Jump speed. While it was armed with missile batteries it would had to get close to the enemy to launch them. Ship to ship warfare was considered impossible. The missiles were intended to hit planetary surface targets. The Lord Commander calculated the time it took for the radio scanners to detect the enemy and the Wurac base on the sixth planet to deliver the report. It took over 40 minutes for radio messages from that base to reach Command. The reported speed of the intruder was so great that it had to be way past the fifth planets orbit by now. One of the sensor specialist handed him a report sheet. “Lord Commander these are the results of our size and mass calculations.” The Lord Commander stared at the numbers.”This can't be! According to this, the Cavaro ship is 1500 enos long.” He however knew right away the calculations were correct. The next message followed right after he received the scanner results. “Wurac base reports the intruder has slowed down to a drift and is still beyond the sixth planets orbit.” Now this message was harder to believe.”Slowing down from 1500 enos a second to less than ten enos an hour in under two hours is physically impossible.” He exclaimed .”It would take several million nort units of energy, exceeding the energy outputs of all Skedrik power plants by magnitudes and subject the ship to deceleration forces enough to rip any known material to shred and kill every living being. The scanner expert double checked the results and could only confirm them. He was just updating the King and his cabinet of the latest developments as his connection was interrupted by a display of simple white dots. “Lord Commander we are being hailed by the intruder. It is transmitting simple mathematical sequences on all known frequencies. Every tele viewer and radio set receives them. The transmission is so strong it overpowers our own messages. There is no channel we can switch to that is not affected.” Another specialist said with a voice edging on panic.”Millions of frequencies, every wavelength and with a sending power greater than that of our collected energy output.” Could the Cavaro become so far advanced and powerful in only a few decades? All previous indication pointed to a technology quite similar at best. He reconnected with the king, using an old hard line communicator and could finish his report. The King asked.”Lord Commander what are you making of this?” “I am as unprepared as you, your majesty.” “Hail them on the old Cavaro frequencies and ask them what their intentions are and continue to launch our ship. If we can not stop them, we at least can repay them in kind.” The Lord Commander gave the launch command and the first Skedrik war ship lifted into space without the planned fanfare. He was also preparing to hail the enemy as he received the next frightening report.”The Cavaro ship has accelerated to over 1500 enos a second and is approaching our world. If the Wurac information is correct. The enemy ship will be inside the third planets orbit only moments after we received this message,” Another officer said.”Lord Commander we are being hailed by the intruder again. They have responded to our contact request on the same Cavaro frequencies we have used to hail them. They responded in clear language this time and have image data embedded in the message.” The Lord Commander stood up. Straightened his uniform well aware of the gravity of this moment and the responsibility resting on his shoulders. He now had to talk to the same beings responsible for killing so many Skedrik. Beings that now returned to most likely do the same again. He took a deep breath. Everyone's attention was on him, it had become eerie quiet in the command center. He nodded to the Communications specialist. “Enable the transmission and display the visual data.” He expected to see a Cavaro. Gray skin, no hair anywhere. Large black eyes above a small nose and a small mouth. Unlike the Skedrik who still had the same short fur as the tree dwelling Branch swingers had, that shared the same heritage as the upright moving bipedal Skedrik. They also shared the pronounced jaws and the big eyes with their non sentient siblings. He was not prepared to see a tall peach skinned being in a black uniform. That the being was female was instantly evident in the covered but prominent mammal glands. This alien female had very long golden fur framing her face. She spoke in accent free Kretka, the official state language of the Skedrik civilization. “Greetings, I am Captain Erica Olafson of the USS Tigershark. I represent the United Stars of the Galaxies. We are on an exploration mission here in the Downward sector to find evidence of an alien civilization known to many as the Children of the Deep. We come in peace and have no hostile intentions. Our sensors indicate that your planet may have several Deep Core seed core pods. For that reason we would like to ask your permission to conduct closer research and if confirmed remove these pods as they pose a potential risk to your civilization. Of course if you wish no further interaction and request our departure, I am by orders required to comply and will leave your star system.” The Lord Commander was prepared for anything but this. That the Aliens were not the Cavaro was of course instantly evident. The possibility of other sentient civilizations beside the Cavaro was of course expected. “Greetings, I am Lord Commander of the Sky Forces. We are the Skedrik and expected you to be of the Cavaro our enemies. I have no authorities to represent my people and therefore ask you to wait until my government can formulate a response.” “Thank you Lord Commander. We will remain at this position and await your response. The Alien female nodded friendly and terminated the transmission. – The news of the Alien visitor spread like wildfire. The King convened an immediate emergency conference calling experts and scientists to attend. “To call the need for this conference is an understatement.”The King begun his address.”We are visited by Aliens claiming to have peaceful intentions. The first time we made contact with others we paid dearly for our trust. I am your king but this is a matter that exceeds my authority to decide alone. The alien spoke about a danger to our civilization. Not that anything she said made sense to me, but I am of the opinion they would not have wasted the effort to come here for nothing. It however is important we find out what they are talking about.” The Lord Commander of the Planet defense said.”What ever it is, it is a lie and a trick. I say coax them a little closer and we launch every missile. Making it their last.” “How do you hope to do that?” The Sky force Commander wanted to know.” That Alien ship just bridged the distance from past the seventh planet to here in less than 40 minutes. They accelerate and decelerate at will from unimaginable speeds in moments. She will outrun your missiles.” A member of the Physics Academy and one of their greatest geniuses looked up from his calculation device.”Maybe we should simply asking them more questions and clarify what they want. Communication seems no problem. I have the feeling that we could not stop them if we had to anyway.” The King gave each one of his advisory and experts a long look and cursed.”You supposed to provide me with answers or at least opinions. I called the finest minds of our people to an emergency conference and I get nothing.” His Cabinet leader, a graying Skedrik advanced in age but usually not not shy voicing his opinion meekly said.”What do you want us to say,your Majesty? We know as much as you. All our lives we prepared for a war with adversaries not of our world. Today strangers showed up in a space ship that defies all our understanding of science and apparently defies the laws of physics itself. I tend to agree with our Lord Commander of defense. I do not trust them and frankly I am terrified. On the other hand I know the Sky force commander is correct, So the only option we have is talk to them.” “But what will I tell them?” “Nothing your highness. You simply ask for more information. I am sure they understand that this is a situation that requires more information exchange.” The king agreed as he saw wisdom in that.” Let us call them.” – In his finest robes of state and the entire Skedrik cabinet behind him ,he stood before the camera and stared at the still dark monitor. He gave the technicians his signal and the red light above the camera flashed. “I am King Oskread, elected ruler of the Skedrik, calling the United Stars of the Galaxies ship.” The screen immediately displayed the alien female, but not just her. She was standing inside a command center of sorts. To her right sat a demonic looking red skinned being and a being shrouded in a black garment, from head to toe. His face covered by a black hood and where his eyes were orbs of bright yellow light. “Greetings your majesty. I am Captain Erica Olafson of the United Stars of the Galaxies space ship Tigershark.” She more or less repeated what she had said during her initial call. “This is a profound event of the highest historic significance and I wish I could welcome you with the highest honors, tell you about us and learn from you what you are willing to share. However we have welcomed and trusted aliens before and paid a horrible price. I hope you will forgive us for being cautionous.” “Your majesty, I represent a civilization of many, united by common accepted truths. Our highest laws protect the right of others and guarantees their liberty to decide in what fashion they chose to live. We do not conquer or press our way of life upon anyone. This is your space and I will immideatly and without hesitation leave. Further if you so wish none of our ships will violate that space ever again.” “As the King and leader of my people I am responsible to keep them safe. The only previous reference I have to base my decision is the darkest event in our history. However your arrival also confirms that the Cavaro are not the only other sentient beings out there. This realization is both exciting and utterly frightening and I must try to get as much information as possible. So I dare not to send you away.” “I understand your majesty. Your people have ascended and opened the door to the stars. Once it is opened it can't be closed. You will soon find out this Universe is teeming with life and full of civilizations that have done the same thing. Sadly not everyone has peaceful goals or intentions.” “Do you know of the Cavaro?” “Only what we gathered from your broadcasts and your information network. It appears a primitive TL3 society only about four light years from here. We have not encountered any of them so far.” The captain listened to something the king could not hear and then said.”Our scanners have confirmed artificial energy and five artificial objects in the process of accelerating. If they are FTL capable they reach Hyper Jump transition speed in about a week.” “You can scan and see that far?” “Yes.” “I made my decision. I want to invite you for further talks and face to face...” The Lord Commander of Defense harshly intervened.”Your majesty you are not considering to let this lying brood of scheming aliens to remain? Are you forgetting Plobir? Are you allow history to repeat itself. I am sworn to protect us even if I must against blind rulers!” The King yelled:”Silence, I am still the king.” However the Lord Commander effectively split the cabinet in two groups. While most remanined on the King's side. Six gathered behind the Lord Commander of defense. The King shook his fist.”I have you arrested for treason.” “I have you removed from the throne for betraying your people.” The Lord Commander addressed the Alien woman.”You are a not Skedrik. Therefore you are an enemy. Your vessel is targeted by thousands of our mightiest weapons.” The Alien woman was not impressed so it seemed.”Well it appears you people made a different choice. I can only accept such an invitation of the official local government. So I will depart now.” The King interrupted.”Captain Olafson. I am still the King and this male is not speaking for the Skedrik.” Guards entered the room and were ordered to restrain the Lord Commander, but they hesitated as the man yelled.”Our king has gone insane! He has invited the aliens to land! We all remember Plobir! The crater is there.” “These are not the Cavaro!” “You have only their word. If you can proof that they are not Cavaro and not their spies. If you can convince everyone their peaceful intentions, I place myself under arrest. If you can't let me launch and destroy them before it is too late.” The alien Captain sighed.”There is always one, now is there?” She sat down.”Maybe the easiest way to demonstrate our true intentions and that I was truthful when I said we came in peace. You would not talk if I did not. Your majesty I invite you to launch your missiles. One or all of them. Target us and after they have found their target we talk again.” The King gasped.”You want us to destroy you?” “I want to make a point and give you the proof demanded” “More than one?” The King asked with a disbelieving voice. “It makes no difference if you launch a few or all of the twelve thousand seven hundred and six you have, currently pointed at us. My tactical officer suggests that you don't launch the 4th missile of the Kauh mountain base. It's war head will malfunction and fail to explode.” The Lord Commander angrily but with a surprised tone said.”How do you know such detailed information of our defense capabilities?” “The same way we learned to speak your language by analyzing your communications” “Your majesty let me blast these alien spies out of the sky!” The Alien captain said.”Let him do it. If we can not to come to pass I am forced to leave.” The king frowned but gave the order. The Lord Commander raised his fist in triumph. “Launch order for twenty Cavaro Destructors given!” Twenty of the biggest and most potent Nuclear missiles streaked into the sky and left orbit. The Lord Commander of the Skyforces expected the alien hip simpy accelerate and move beyond the reach of the missiles. The King and his now divided cabinet stared at the monitor still showing the alien captain. She yawned and a another female with coppery red hair served her some kind of beverage. King Oskread said.”Would it not be time by now to start accelerating. The missiles are almost there!” “Your majesty if I wanted to evade them, I would not be able to make the point I want to make. Besides your missiles are far slower than I expected. They won't be here for another hour. I think I move a little closer to speed things up.” The Alien ship traversed the distance in the blink of an eye and was now just about a million kird away from Kedra the home world of the Skedrik. The Skedrik watching could see their own weapons on the screens of the alien approaching fast. Yet none of the aliens were excited or prepared for their imminent doom. The king however almost at the end of his nerves.”Do you see how honorable these vistors are, Krakead you fool. They are going to sacrifice themselves to give you the proof you wanted.” Captain Olafson said.”Sorry our majesty, I would not exactly go that far. The black shrouded being said.”Impact imminent.” Blinding white light washed over the screen, but the alien captain didn't even spill a drop of her beverage. She then said,”Your missiles are not capable of stopping us. I didn't even raise shields. King Oskread. Under shields I could pass right through your sun. I have weapons that could obliterate your world or set in on fire.” The Defense Commander was as speechless and shocked as everyone. “You came to destroy us!” To the king she said.”He is a dense one. Do you think I waste time talking to you or let you shoot at me. You be destroyed simple as that.” The king said.” Arrest yourself Krakead and be gone. This is proof that they are truthful. They did not need to ask but they did. To the alien captain the King said. “Please accept my apologies and please accept our invitation .” – The King still stared at the now dark screen. Only know he noticed just how stressful the entire experience was. Shea did not look up from her read outs.”I am still analyzing their history and I am surprised it was so easy. They seem to have a wise leader. A culture shock like this could easily resulted into an even more paranoid reaction.” Har-Hi grinned.”I am not sure it gets much paranoid than that missile slinging general.” I got up and said.”I am not so sure I can condemn that Defense guy. He was preparing all his life for a very real threat. The only visitors they had before us certainly made his view and his reaction very understandable. I don't think I would have acted much different in his case.” “It appears they biologically related to the Furze. A genetic examination might support my hypothesis.” Shea agreed and pointed at the visuals she gathered from Skedrik sourches.” Their adversaries,the Cavaro have more than a passing resemblance to the Freons. It might interesting to follow up on that as well.” ”Now that be something, to find survivors of the Freon society.” Narth corrected me.”Freon related species perhaps. United Earth was quite thorough in eliminating anything related to the Freon society.” Elfi said. “I still think the real reason we Sarans joined with United Earth was to have Stahl on our side.” We laughed but Har-Hi was quite serious. “In our case it was certainly part of my father's decision.” I had to agree, knowing much of the Dai history. Then I asked Elfi.”Did we anything in form of landing instructions?” “No, just the permission to do so.” ;; At the door I almost ran into Circuit. “Captain are you done mistreating the ship. There could have been some damage caused.” Of course he was not serious but he made his best effort trying to sound like it. “SHIP have I ever mistreated you?” “Never!” Circuit pointed his finger in an accusing manner at the ceiling but said to me.”SHIP always sides with you.” “Naturally she is my SHIP. Those pop rockets could not have scratched the hull of the first Tigershark. Now we have a Wurgus developed outer layer over the SII Neutronium film and the tetra compacted Ultronit beneath. Wasn't it you who said we could check out the inside of a sun and not worry?” “In theory, Captain.” “Was any damage reported?” “The paint might.” “We don't have paint on the outer hull. The color scheme is material integrated,” He could no longer pretend to be angry but said.”We do have perfectly good shields you know and your point would be the same.” “And face the simulated anger of my CEO for possibly causing the reduction of a percent shield efficency for an entire nano second? No way!” He laughed. Har-Hi asked.”Do we recall Bergdorf and Salhof or are we going to collect them once we are down?” “I am ] ]Do we land or use Tyron's Invention again?” The living suit who I actually came to ask if it worked. I if you want to land or use the Transmatter Elevator again. The difficulties of last time weren't of technical nature, just a slight miscalculation.” “Appearing with the thunderclap of Thor himself at the most private location of the Grand Regent while he was..well in a very important meeting causing him a heart attack while I had to explain was not just a slight miscalculation.” Salhof Bergdorf The only female present, a highly intelligent scientist who, despite her expertise and talents was usually ignored and her findings dismissed wondered why she was invited in the first place. However this was her chance to talk to the king. All her warnings and calculations had been ridiculed.”Your majesty. I am Lokya of the Mathematics Academy of Kisoh. I know I am only a female but the court summoned me anyway. I must urgently warn you from launching the Plobir. One of her male colleagues who had been silent until now interrupted her.”Your majesty, ignore or better dismiss her. We are discussing the fate of our civilization and she will waste our time with foolish warnings about the Plobir na Tana.” The King was angry and agitated as it was and while he was a modern and progressive ruler. He too was still of the opinion that it was wrong to allow women to study anything than house hold chores. The catastrophe of Plobir changed all that as women were needed to help replace the huge loss. He snarled at the female. “Remind The leader of the physics community was addressing the conference.”The Alien woman is right. We used the exact same coordinates as during our last attempt to send a ship to the Cavaro. We overlooked the gravitational influence of a brown dwarf at the re-entry point. We did not know of its existence back then and only discovered it as we re checked all calculations. The Plobir na Tanga is doomed as we can not stop her acceleration phase. I will take full responsibility for it.” The King frowned.”And you will. It is only logical to assume we lost the first expedition the same way. However as terrible this is,we have an alien visitor in our star system Category:Fragments